Notes: Another Batless Week; Davis, Gonzalez Called Up As Churn Continues; Injuries, Minor & MLB News

A new but not much improved week...

Notes:

• The Bucs came home and were not only swept by the Cubs, but shut out twice. They've dropped nine-in-a-row, all to divisional rivals. Then they went to Miami and blew an eighth-inning lead, then  rallied to take a 3-1 win behind Luis Ortiz to snap the string at 10 losses. But the bats continued to snooze through some quality pitching, and the Fish took the next pair.
• Henry Davis' call up was made official on Monday, with Mark Mathias being optioned to Indy and RHP Eli Villalobos was DFA'ed (he was an April waiver pickup from Miami who was assigned to Indy) to clear  40-man space. Davis made his debut the same night, batting seventh and playing right field - he has 15 minor league games at the position - against the Cubs at PNC Park. Shelty said most of Davis' outings this season will be OF/DH while he's schooled at catching by Austin Hedges/Jason Delay. It ended up a tough week for Mathias - on Sunday the Bucs bought RHP Andre Jackson (0-1/4.14 in 14 outings over three seasons), who had been DFA'ed by the Dodgers. Jackson was optioned to Indy and Mark was DFA'ed by the Bucs to clear a 40-man roster spot. 

Henry Davis - 2023 photo/Pirates

• 2020 first-round draft pick 2B Nick Gonzales was added to the active roster, OF Cal Mitchell was optioned to Indy and RHP Vince Velasquez was transferred from the 15-day IL to the 60-day. 
• Rumor had it that OF Bryan Reynolds was going on the IL with an oblique issue; Shelty said not so, but that he is playing through some back tightness and getting some time off. OF Cal Mitchell was called up; he was batting .276 with seven home runs/42 RBI at Indy while RHP Yohan Ramirez (1-0/ 3.00/19 outings with 23 strikeouts in 24 innings) was optioned. Sounds like an insurance policy move in case Reynold's balky back proves to be a problem to us...and it was. Reynolds was placed on the 10 day IL on Thursday with lower back inflammation and RHP Cody Bolton was recalled.
• Cutch is also getting the odd game off as he deals with an elbow issue, but seems like he's back. He hit his 300th double as a Pirate (seventh on the all-time franchise list) and 400th MLB two-bagger on Saturday.
• 1B Ji-Man Choi began his rehab assignment Thursday at Altoona.
• No Bucs made it past the first round of All-Star balloting to the finals.

City Connect uniforms - 2023 photo/Pirates
(Mitch Keller, Jack Suwinski, David Bednar)

• The Pirates will debut their City Connect uniforms Tuesday, and have scheduled six more games when they will sport the PGH logo during the season.
• The club has issued a boatload of promotions in the minors; the key one for the big club is RHP Jared Jones moving up to AAA.
• The Bradenton Marauders made a clean sweep of Florida State League honors - RHP Alessandro Ercado was the Pitcher of the Week and OF Shalin Polanco was the Player of the Week. Ercado tossed five one-hit, shutout innings with four K in his outing while Polanco hit two homers, drove in six runs and batted .450.
• OF Bligh Madris was promoted to the big club the Astros and IF Kevin Padlo, who also spent some time with Pittsburgh last year, was called up by the Angels.
• 1B Yoshi Tsutsugo, who was DFA'ed by the Bucs last August, has opted out of his minor league posting with Texas.